Visit Utidia

What is N testing? (In 100 Words or Less)

Digital Marketing, Youthup Wire /

During summer, my favorite time of day was when the ice cream truck would drive on our street. Usually, I didn’t know what I wanted. If I had saved enough money, I’d order a push-up (am I dating myself, or is this still offered?), the rocket popsicle, and an ice cream sandwich. Little did I know, I was actually conducting an A/B/n test. I wanted to taste several flavors — not just two. As a marketer, I’ve encountered the same problem with split testing. When I was working at an agency, I’d usually write four to five headlines for a landing page. To taste all the flavors, so to speak (as I did with my ice cream), we’d conduct A/B/n tests. Below, let’s review what N testing is and tools to help you get started. Now, you might be wondering, “How does this differ from multivariate testing?” It’s a good question. Multivariate testing is usually more comprehensive than A/B/n tests. For example, an A/B/n test will test one element of a web page, while a multivariate test will test multiple variables at once. For instance, an A/B/n test might test the color of a CTA button, while a multivariate test is testing the headline, button, and image. So, now that we understand what N testing is, let’s examine why you should implement an A/B/n test in your campaigns. Why should you implement A/B/n testing? Sometimes when you’re creating a landing page, you’ll have multiple versions of the copy, CTA, or images. In fact, in my experience, when I was creating landing pages, I almost always had about three to four different versions of each of those elements before I decided which one I wanted to go with. That’s where A/B/n testing comes in. This type of split testing gives you the power to test several versions of your web pages. If you’re still gathering information and data on your audience, this is especially helpful. When you aren’t sure what your audience will respond do, you should run an A/B/n test to gather information on what performs best with your target market. What are some disadvantages of A/B/n tests? While A/B/n tests are useful when you have multiple versions of a web page you want to test, there is a possible disadvantage to this type of testing. Since you’re dividing traffic on your site, the more variations you want to test, the more traffic and time it’ll take to reach a statistically significant result. Additionally, it’s important to use A/B/n tests to gather information on your audience and draw significant conclusions about the type of content they want to see. Testing minor changes, such as the color of a button, won’t drastically increase your conversion rate. Once you’ve decided that you want to run an A/B/n test, you might be wondering, “How do I get started?” Well, there are actually tools that can help. When you’re looking at A/B testing tools, you should always check to make sure they can run multiple variations, not just two. Below, let’s review the top tools you can use to implement an A/B/n test. A/B/n Testing Tools 1. VWO Testing VWO is a popular A/B testing tool among marketers and developers because it’s easy to use and intuitive. Additionally, it’s a powerful, robust tool that can help you implement comprehensive multivariate testing or a simple A/B/n test. It’s most popular among enterprise brands, including Target, eBay, and Virgin Holidays. The top features include audience targeting, campaign segmentation, statistical relevance analysis, and heat maps. 2. Crazy Egg Crazy Egg is a great alternative for smaller businesses that are looking for a more cost-effective solution. With this tool, you can run A/B/n tests so you can understand the customer journey. With advanced heat maps and visitor recordings, you can see where your audience is getting stuck. Its top features include funnel analysis, split testing, campaign segmentation, and statistical relevance analysis. 3. Instapage Instapage is an excellent A/B/n testing tool that’s designed to help marketers create more impactful campaigns. With this tool, you can create, personalize, and optimize your landing pages at scale. The goal is test your user behavior, speak to your audience, and validate what works best. Its top features include audience targeting, heat maps, multivariate testing, and ad-to-page personalization. Running a split test isn’t always as easy as testing two versions of a web page. Sometimes you’ll have multiple versions that you want to test. With A/B/n testing, you can see what version of your landing page performs best.

What is N testing? (In 100 Words or Less) Read More »

Crisis Adaptation – Whiteboard Friday

Digital Marketing, Youthup Wire /

Posted by BritneyMuller Businesses all over the globe are struggling with new challenges as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. With consumers turning to the internet for the majority of their needs, it’s never been more vital to ensure your online presence is easily found and your business updates clearly communicated. In this special edition of Whiteboard Friday, Britney Muller outlines a checklist that businesses can use to meet the changing needs of consumers and improve visibility for local searches. Bonus — We’ve adapted these tips into a free checklist you can download and share: Get the checklist Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high resolution version in a new tab! Video Transcription Hey, Moz fans. Welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. Today we’re going over crisis adaptation, and I first have to give a huge shout-out to Miriam Ellis, who really helped me package all of this up to deliver to you today. If you’re not already following Miriam on Twitter, I highly suggest you do. She is a local SEO genius. So let’s dive right in.  Meet your customers where they are You often hear this phrase in marketing and in SEO about meeting your customers where they are. This might be important now more than ever because the current landscape, it’s changed so much. Listen to your customers & understand how their needs have shifted In order to better meet your customers where they are, you really first have to listen and understand how their needs have shifted, how have their concerns shifted. What are they searching for now? Just really paying attention and listening online to your current target market. One of the things I also like to suggest is listen to competitive reviews. Keep an eye on competitive reviews being posted on Google and other spaces to get a gauge of how desires and concerns have shifted.  Know where your audience is This could have also shifted a bit. Whiteboard Friday’s OG, Rand Fishkin, launched SparkToro that does exactly that. So you can really deep dive into real-time data around what your audience is listening to, who they follow, all sorts of great stuff for you to leverage in today’s climate. Connect with potential customers in meaningful ways Now is a great time to reach out and engage with not only potential customers but current customer base and remind people that you are still here and serving them in various ways. This is key. Partner with relevant businesses I’ve seen this do really well in some great examples of pivoting, where a fruit delivery company partnered with a bakery to include these free cakes within orders. What a great way to get some visibility for that bakery, and vice versa. I think it’s a great time to leverage industry relationships and help one another out. I absolutely love that tip.  Communicate all changes and updates Now the other big, big priority right now is all around communicating changes and updates to your website visitors. So what do you need to cover? Changes to hours is so important right now. It’s essential that you have that information readily visible to anyone visiting your website, if this applies to you. All forms of availability, video, curbside, no touch delivery, have that information available. Any expected delays and product availability challenges.  Sanitation and any adopted safety precautions.  Payment methods accepted.  Any philanthropic efforts that you’re doing to help support people in need. I’m seeing a lot of these show up in banners and readily available information for people visiting websites. I think it’s great to consider making sure that this information is easy for people to access.  Immediately communicate this information: Set up online orders and catalog inventory/services In addition to these things, set up online orders. At the very least, catalog your online inventory or services for people to let people know what you’re currently offering. If you’re a struggling business and you don’t want to go into a huge website build, you can absolutely check out and explore things like Squarespace or Shopify.  I would have never thought I would be suggesting these platforms a year ago (just because they’re not usually great for SEO reasons). But they can do a beautiful job of solving this problem so quickly, and then you can roll out V2 and V3 down the road when you’re ready to make those improvements. But I think just getting businesses off the ground is so important right now.  Add products for free on Google Shopping This was such a neat thing that Google offered several weeks ago, and it’s doing great. It allows you to list products for free on Google Shopping, giving you that extra visibility right now. So if you’re an e-commerce brand, definitely check that out.  Create maps showing delivery radiuses Miriam had this great idea to create maps showing delivery radiuses, if that applies to you, so really giving someone visiting your site quick information about the areas that you serve. Sometimes when you see the ZIP codes, it’s a little overwhelming. Routific Then this was mentioned in a recent GatherUp webinar by Darren Shaw — Routific. So if you are doing local deliveries and they’re getting a little out of hand, Routific is a company that creates delivery routes to make them most efficient for you, which I thought was so cool. I didn’t even know that existed.  Double down on SEO and content marketing I absolutely loved Mike King’s correction: Nathan Turner’s post on this — I think it was a couple weeks ago — where he explains why economic downturns favor the bold. It’s brilliant. There are incredible use cases around this, and we’ll link to that down below.  Someone who has impressed the heck out of me the last couple of weeks is Kristin Tynski — I hope I’m saying that right — over at Fractl. She is going above and beyond to create content pieces that are not only genius but are

Crisis Adaptation – Whiteboard Friday Read More »

The 13 Best Email Template Builders for Any Budget

Digital Marketing, Youthup Wire /

Email marketing is an undeniably powerful strategy for lead acquisition and customer retention — in fact, 59% of marketers say email is their biggest source of ROI, and 93% use email as a major channel for content distribution. Of course, creating an email marketing campaign isn’t easy, and it might require you to build a template using HTML so you’re not designing and altering every new email from scratch. Thankfully, there are dozens of email template builders available, all of which can help you intuitively and quickly create new email templates for your upcoming campaigns. Then again, the fact that there are dozens of tools available can pose a challenge — how are you supposed to know which template builder will best suit your needs? Fortunately, you’re in luck. We’ve done the homework for you, compiling a list of our 13 favorite email template builders, complete with pricing, screenshots, and a general overview of each app’s unique features. Keep reading to choose the best email template builder for your company. But first — why do you need an email template builder, anyway? Why You Need an Email Template Builder Email marketing remains one of the highest-ROI marketing strategies, in part because of how easy and inexpensive it is to create a campaign, but if you’re designing and sending emails on a frequent basis, you’ll need additional support to work efficiently—and maximize your results. An email template builder grants you several advantages: Better design features. Without a template builder, you may struggle to arrange your content in blocks as you want, or add videos to your email. Initial time savings. Most email template builders rely on intuitive mechanics, like drag-and-drop editors, so you can design your emails faster. Long-term time savings. Creating a library of email templates can save you a ton of time long-term, allowing you to quickly choose and lightly edit past templates for new emails. Replicability. Did you see impressive results with your most recent campaign? With an email template builder, you can easily replicate it with some minor tweaks in the future. Analytics. Most email template builders also feature built-in analytics, which you can use to study your past email marketing efforts and make improvements to your approach. Additionally, depending on the email template builder you’re using, you may have access to even more features. Let’s dive into some of the best builders, next. The Best Email Template Builders 1. HubSpot HubSpot offers a comprehensive, start-to-finish solution for all your marketing needs. You can create a sleek, on-brand email campaign using HubSpot’s drag-and-drop editor, and customize the template to match your brand and align with your goals. Additionally, you can customize each email depending on your recipient’s lifecycle stage, list membership, or any information in their contact records to ensure each email is designed for optimal conversions. Best of all, the email tool provides top-notch analytics and A/B testing tools so you can continue to refine your marketing strategy over time. Unique Features Analytics to provide deep insights into your email success rates, including open-rate, most popular links clicked in an email, who engages with each email, when and on which device, and what emails perform best. Tailor each email to individual subscribers based on lifecycle stage, list membership, or any other contact information to serve the best calls-to-action to segmented groups. Ability to run A/B tests to improve open-rates and clickthroughs. More than 100 email templates available by default. Custom landing page creation tools. Advanced social sharing options. Integrations with other marketing tools (more than 300 third-party apps). 24/7 support from customer service reps. Pricing You can get started with HubSpot’s email tool for free. Alternatively, if you’re already a HubSpot customer (professional or enterprise), the email tool is already included. 2. MailChimp MailChimp is one of the top names in email marketing, in part because of its accessibility. It’s super easy to learn and build your first few email templates, and you can get started right now with a free plan. As you scale your business, you’ll find additional options, features, and tools for your needs. Image Source Unique Features More than 100 email templates available by default. Custom landing page creation tools. Advanced social sharing options. Integrations with other marketing tools (more than 300 third-party apps). 24/7 support from customer service reps. Pricing MailChimp offers a free plan that provides basic templates, marketing CRM, surveys, and even website creation. At $9.99 per month, you’ll get additional support, custom branding, A/B testing, and all email templates. To get access to custom templates, retargeting ads, and better audience insights, you’ll need the Standard plan at $14.99 per month. Advanced plans, including a Premium tier at $299.00 per month, are also available, and offer features like advanced segmentation, multivariate testing, and more. 3. BEE Free BEE Free is a free online email editor that has been used by more than a million people. In just a few clicks, you can get started designing your first email template — or use one of the 150 templates currently available by default. It also offers free design ideas on its own blog. Image Source Unique Features 150 predesigned templates (and additional paid templates). Full responsiveness for mobile friendly designs. Integration with many SaaS apps. Options to pick up where you left off. Pricing BEE Free, as you might have guessed, is free. You can drag-and-drop to create emails without even needing to sign up. However, you may eventually want to upgrade to one of three BEE Pro packages, which are targeted to freelancers, marketing teams, and agencies. Pro plans start at $15 per month. 4. Mosaico Mosaico.io is an open source email template builder, which is something of a rarity. You won’t find any predesigned templates, as you would with other email template builders, but you will be able to alter the tool however you see fit. Image Source Unique Features A unique click-based design tool, abandoning the traditional “drag-and-drop” model. Community support, due to its open source nature.

The 13 Best Email Template Builders for Any Budget Read More »

The Ultimate Guide to Podcast Audio, According to HubSpot’s Podcast Experts

Digital Marketing, Youthup Wire /

In 2019, Google began rolling out what is arguably one of the most significant changes to its search engine since the introduction of dedicated video carousels in June 2018, or the introduction of featured snippets in October 2017: Google has begun to ad podcasts to search results. Every minor tweak to the search algorithm can have marketers scrambling to understand how they can take advantage of this shift — or, for the more pessimistic, how to avoid getting pushed to the dreaded page two of search results. Adding the podcast to search results is going to affect content creators, SEO specialists, marketers, and perhaps most importantly, it will also likely have a major impact on podcasts. In this post, we’ll explore how to take advantage of the advent of audio SEO. Then we’ll dive into how you can create high-quality audio from home, if you’re creating a podcast remotely.  But before we dive into how marketers can create SEO-friendly audio content, let’s look at the primary problem Google is solving by indexing all podcast content. The History of Podcasts Discoverability Problem If you do any reading on the podcast industry, you will find endless articles lamenting “the discoverability problem” of podcasts. When people talk about the discoverability problem they’re not referring to being able to find a podcast they’ve already heard of — instead, they’re talking about how difficult it is to discover new, unheard-of shows. For the majority of podcasting, there has been one primary mechanism for discovering new shows: the iTunes Charts. The vast majority of podcast downloads occurs on iTunes. Despite Android commanding ~75% of smartphone ownership, iTunes commands the vast majority of podcast downloads. As Google’s PM for Podcast Zach Reneau-Wedeen notes: “It’s actually so egregious that on a device-by-device basis, the average iPhone listens to over ten times more podcasting than the average Android.” Due to Apple’s outsized command of podcast downloads, their charts have played a critical role in helping new shows gain traction. As a quick overview, the iTunes podcast section has Top 100 charts based on regions. There are charts for the top shows, charts for the top episodes, and then a whole collection of categories and sub-category charts such as Top 100 Business Shows. These charts are algorithmically generated. iTunes also has a hand-curated list such as “New & Noteworthy” where they can promote interesting new shows that have yet to gain a massive following. Beyond these charts, many podcasts are discovered through word-of-mouth or social media. The problem with Apple’s system for discovering new podcasts is the shows that tend to get traction on the charts are the ones that already have built-in audiences. This is why you tend to see New & Noteworthy being filled with shows from reputable publishers. The one area that has never been particularly effective for finding a new podcast has been search. In 2018, Google set out to change that. Google’s Quest to Fix Podcast Discoverability With over 700,000 podcasts out there, millions of episodes and even more hours of content, podcast are a set of data that Google can help people sift through. However, Google is not only trying to make it easier to find podcasts — they’re also trying to rapidly grow the number of people listening to podcasts. As Google PodcastsProduct Manager Zack Reneau-Wedeen notes, “Our team’s mission is to help double the amount of podcast listening in the world over the next couple years.” Google’s approach to solving discoverability is two-fold: 1) make podcast discoverable via search, and 2) enable new content creators who have traditionally been excluded from the podcast world to develop new shows and attract new audiences. Here’s what Google has done to help fix podcast discoverability: June 2018: Google rolls out new Google Podcast App October 2018: Google partners with PRX creator program to attract new creators and audiences to podcasts. March 2019: Google begins indexing podcasts. Google collects information including the name of the podcasts, episode titles and descriptions, and transcriptions of new episodes. May 2019: Podcast begins to surface in podcast results Looking at Google’s new smartphone, the Pixel 4’s recorder app, you can see how incredibly good big G has gotten at transcribing voices. It makes sense, considering they have tons of data from YouTube videos, Google Home products, and all Android phones. There is no company better positioned to digest massive amounts of audio data than Google. So now that they have all of this data on podcasts, let’s explore how they’ve begun to integrate it into search results. Google Adds Podcast to Search Results As of writing this, the majority of search results that involve podcasts require the word ‘podcast’ to be in the search query. We are seeing podcast appear in two ways. Broad Category Search aka Popular on the Web: When you search a broad topic like “business podcast”, shows will show up in a carousel at the top. Clicking on these results will simply open a new search for the name of the show. Searching for an Answer: When you’re looking for a more specific answer and include the word “podcast” you will find a Podcast Carousel. The carousel appears to give weight to the title of the show, then the episode title, show description, and finally the actual content of the episode. In the example below, you can see a mix of shows that either including something about home building in the show, or in the episode title. The “Popular from the Web” and podcast carousels are the two mechanisms for how Google is surfacing podcasts into search results. In terms of real estate, both these carousels occupy top positions in the SERPs. HubSpot’s SEO strategist Aja Frost explains what the addition of podcasts will mean: “This will definitely have an impact on SEO.” Frost says, “Search is a zero-sum game — there’s a set amount of space on the SERP, so every new search feature, like a podcast carousel, means there’s less space for the

The Ultimate Guide to Podcast Audio, According to HubSpot’s Podcast Experts Read More »

How to Run a Successful Grassroots Marketing Campaign [+ Examples]

Digital Marketing, Youthup Wire /

When I try to think of marketing campaigns that were emotional and memorable, one of the first ones that comes to mind is the Dove Real Beauty campaign. The reason? Dove uses grassroots marketing strategies to create targeted content that their audience wants to share with everyone they know. As a marketer, that might seem like a daunting task. However, grassroots marketing can actually be cost-effective and achievable for any brand. Below, let’s review grassroots marketing from the best strategies to examples that’ll inspire your own campaigns. Grassroots marketing is similar to viral marketing because the goal is to create content that your audience wants to share. However, this might be more cost-effective since you’re building a campaign that’s targeted at a smaller, specific audience. These campaigns will be different from your everyday marketing campaigns because your goal is to inspire a small audience to take action. With other marketing campaigns, you’re probably hoping to reach a large number of people. However, with grassroots marketing, you’re creating highly specific content with the hope that your audience will share your message for you. 1. Know your target audience. It’s true, it’s going to be important for you to know your audience for any marketing campaign. However, with grassroots marketing it’s a necessity. The entire concept of grassroots marketing is that your audience will share your content for you. Yet, they won’t do that if your content doesn’t inspire them to. Before you get started with grassroots marketing, you need to know what motivates and inspires your audience. Figure out what they care about and create content surrounding that. 2. Get creative and inspire action. Again, your grassroots marketing content should inspire your audience to take action. But you might be wondering, “How do I do that?” One way is be creative and start a movement. Your content doesn’t have to be political, but it has to be inspiring and relatable. 3. Focus on storytelling. While I might be biased because I’m a writer, the best grassroots marketing campaigns are focused on storytelling. Ideally, your content will explore your audience’s emotions. For example, if your target audience is parents, you can create a video that’s focused on the parent/child relationship. This will tug at their heartstrings and make them want to share with their friends. In fact, think about grassroots marketing as a way to tell your audience’s stories. If they feel represented by your content, they’re going to share it wildly. 4. Start hyperlocal. It might seem like grassroots marketing is about creating viral content, however, no grassroots campaign started that way. With grassroots marketing, your content should be laser focused on your target audience. The goal is to attain national attention by sheer shareability and word of mouth. 5. Use reviews to your advantage. One strategy for your grassroots campaign should be to focus on getting reviews. You should spend time building your reputation on Yelp or Google reviews so you can gain organic attention online. For example, a year ago, I started to hear all about this thing called a Hydro Flask. I saw the reviews and heard people talking about it for months. I finally decided to buy one even though I had literally never used a water bottle in my day-to-day life before. That’s the result of a great grassroots marketing campaign. With reviews from happy customers amplifying your message, you can reach people you weren’t even targeting originally. 6. Create YouTube content. YouTube is one of the best channels to disseminate your grassroots marketing content. On this social media platform, you can share highly targeted content that’s educational, helpful, and emotional. If your video continues to get shared by your audience, you can begin to reach even more people organically because your video might rank better. Grassroots Marketing Ideas 1. Text your customer. With grassroots marketing, it’s important to get creative with how you reach your audience. One way to do this is to use text marketing. With SMS messages, you can have a real conversation with your customers. You can learn about them, send them one-touch surveys, or offer targeted marketing based on their feedback. The trick with text marketing is to only send messages to customers who have signed up to receive your texts. No one wants to get a random text from an unidentified number. 2. Include visuals. Almost every grassroots marketing campaign should be focused around the visuals. In fact, in a 2018 HubSpot survey, 54% of consumers wanted to see more video content from a brand or business they support. Visual content is what your audience wants to see. Plus, the main idea is that grassroots marketing is shareable and visual content is easier to share. 3. Don’t forget a call-to-action. Not to beat a dead horse, but your grassroots marketing campaign should inspire action. To do this, you have to include a call-to-action in your campaign. With successful grassroots marketing, your target audience has shared your content with their friends. Now that you have people’s attention, you need to decide what to do with it. For example, you can ask people to donate to a cause or purchase a product. 4. Support a cause. A quick and easy way to implement grassroots marketing in your strategy is to support a cause that your audience cares about. When people see that your company is charitable, they’re more likely to trust you and have positive associations with your brand. You can support a cause by donating, encouraging your audience to donate, amplifying and representing the message of a cause, or listing the causes you support on your website. When your content is focused around philanthropic efforts, your audience is more likely to share it. 5. Use influencers. Influencer marketing is a modern day version of grassroots marketing. The theory is that when influential people promote your brand, your audience is more likely to share that message and be inspired to take action. To get started, you could send influencers in your

How to Run a Successful Grassroots Marketing Campaign [+ Examples] Read More »

The Plain-English Guide to GCLID

Digital Marketing, Youthup Wire /

90% of all web searches happen on Google, which means, if you’re a marketer, you should probably know the ins and outs of Google Ads I’ve opened Google to search for something at least five times today. And every one of those times, I’ve seen at least two ads on every results page. No matter the wide range of my searches — from vegan snickerdoodles to makeup brands and HTML codes — I was met with Google advertisements. From a business perspective, Google Ads is amazing for lead generation. It’s a pay-per-click platform that helps you boost visits to your website. With Google Ads, you can create targeted ads that will be shown to a segmented audience. Google Ads allows you to track the traffic, metrics, and conversions of your ads without switching to Google Analytics. Let’s begin by talking about GCLID more in depth. What is GCLID, and how do you use it? If you are unsure of the number of conversions you’re earning from your ad campaigns or want more insight into how to improve the performance of your ads, you may want to look into Google Click Identifier. A GCLID is generated every time an ad is clicked and the user is redirected to a landing page. GCLID communicates data to Google that will be sent to Ads and Analytics, like the pages per visit and the amount of time spent on the website as a whole. When you track ads, you can monitor their real-time performance. You can optimize ads for better performance. Ads can be tracked by adding tags, like GCLID. GCLID which helps you streamline tracking ad performance and gives you end-to-end conversion performance. This post will teach you all about GCLID and how it can fit into your Google Ads strategy. When you have GCLID turned on, you’ll be able to track extensive details of the end-to-end conversions you’re earning with specific campaigns. If you use auto-tagging, (also known as GCLID), you’ll be able to track more dimensions than with manual tagging, including how your keyword is being matched to search queries, the ad group associated with the keyword, the URL ID, the ad format, and the distribution network. Below is an example of the amount of features available to you with auto-tagging: Ultimately, these metrics, available to view as a full report in Analytics, will help you improve the quality of your ads. Let’s talk a little more about how tagging works. Manual tagging vs. auto-tagging in Google Ads You can tag ads manually or have Google track for you using auto-tagging. Manual tagging is completed by adding a unique UTM code into your tracking data in Google Ads. While both GCLID and manual tagging allow you to obtain unique analytics about ad performance, there are differences. Keep in mind this important note from one of HubSpot’s paid ads managers, Nicole Ondracek, about manual tagging: “Manual tagging overrides GCLID auto-tagging when used, but it’s good to have auto-tagging turned on so you can see all the data and dimensions possible when looking in Google Analytics.” If you use manual tagging in Google Ads, you’ll be able to access data for these dimensions, including Source, Content, Medium, Campaign, and Keyword. Ondracek notes, “We look at all of the interactions, like clicks and impressions, in the Google Ads interface, and if we want to see further conversions, we look in Analytics using the manual UTM tracking.” GCLID helps to keep all of those reporting features in one channel which means less back and forth for you. Now that you have a deeper understanding of the differences between tagging, let’s talk about how to enable GCLID. How do you enable GCLID tracking? Setting up GCLID is pretty easy. First, access Google Ads, click “Settings,” > “Account settings,” > “Auto-tagging.” From there, select “Tag the URL that people click through from my ad,” and save your changes. Then, make sure your Google Ads and Analytics accounts are linked. Learn how to do that in this ultimate guide. Want the abbreviated version? In Google Ads, click “Linked Accounts” under Setup, which is located in the Tools icon. You’ll also have to activate Google signals, which will import those conversions across the two channels. From there, check your reports in Ads by creating reporting columns based on the metrics you want to follow. To access your GCLID data in Analytics, go to the left sidebar and click “Acquisition,” > “Google Ads,” > and the type of campaign you’re checking. In this case, I chose “Video.” From this screen, keep track of the ROI you’re earning from each GCLID you have. Additionally, sort your GCLIDs by campaign goal, or click on a specific GCLID to learn more details about how it’s performing by the hour as well as specific web behavior concerning that URL. GCLID is meant to help you organize and keep track of your ad performance. It’s a tool to help you optimize your campaigns so you can improve them as they’re running. When you use GCLID, you are personalizing your Google Suite dashboard to benefit your company. How do you plan to fit GCLID into your Ads strategy?

The Plain-English Guide to GCLID Read More »

Which Types of Live Video Are People Actually Watching? [New Data]

Digital Marketing, Youthup Wire /

In 2019, global internet users watched 1.1 billion hours of live video. That equates to 12,557 decades of online content. And the craziest part? People will probably spend even more time streaming content in 2020. The statistic above is just one of many that shows how popular live video is becoming. And, with any social media or online video trend, marketers are taking notice and learning how to implement it in their own tactics. If the mounting research about live video has intrigued you, you might be asking more questions about live video in the near future. Specifically, you might be wondering, “Which types of live content are driving people to tune in?” To figure out what’s driving the world to watch multiple lifetimes’ worth of content in one year, I decided to conduct a Lucid survey of over 400 consumers to learn which types of content they watch the most. Which live videos do consumers actually watch? If you’ve followed live stream trends, you might think content that focuses on entertainment such as behind-the-scenes content, or video game streaming, might make the top of the list as the most popular type of live content. However, when I asked consumers, “Which type of live video are you most likely to watch if you see it on one of your social network feeds?”, their answers surprised me. The top three live videos that people say they’re most likely to click on actually emphasize content that’s educational or allows viewers to learn something new. In fact, the type of live videos consumers are most likely to view is “A Q&A with an influencer, celebrity, or expert in your industry,” which received nearly 30% of the votes. Below is a quick look at the top four live video types that polled consumers selected: Data Source Live video formats that consumers were less interested in were behind the scenes video streams, theatrical stories with a script or plotline, and virtual conferences or events. These topics received between three to eight percent of the votes. While the least popular types of live video focus more on gaming and entertainment, the top three formats are informational and can be used by brands to discuss their industry, grow awareness, or highlight a product online. Below, I’ll walk you through the three most common live video formats, note how you can leverage them as a marketer, and offer branded live video examples to inspire you. 3 Types of Live Video Consumers Love Watching Live Q&As Live Q&As can be affordable to produce, engage multiple audiences at once, allow you to interact with your fans, and highlight your brand’s expertise at the same time. If you host a Q&A with an influencer or thought leader, you boost the chances of their followers tuning in to comment with questions or learn more about the guest. In the process, they’ll learn a bit about you and your brand. If you appear on a Q&A, the host’s audiences will learn more about you and potentially get the opportunity to interact. Can’t book a thought leader or influencer? You can also coordinate Q&As with experts from your own company. This will allow experts in your industry to learn about a topic your employees are highly skilled in. This provides audiences value and allows them to engage with your brand in a new way. Additionally, prospects and customers that view this type of live video will see the depth of knowledge that your team has, which might result in them trusting the quality of your product. Product Tutorials While brands have been recording, editing, and publishing online product demos and tutorials for years, this process can also take place on live platforms. Although a pre-recorded product tutorial has the benefit of being edited, a live product tutorial authentically highlights a product with no added editing. Here’s an example of a live product tutorial streamed by The Nail Prop Shop which highlights tools that help consumers paint their nails like professionals: In the product tutorial above, you’re seeing how the product and the host authentically without edits, artificial lighting, or anything else that could boost the aesthetics of the product. Because of this, you can easily imagine what it would be like to use the product in your own life. Educational Content People crave knowledge. And, even when you don’t directly discuss your product or service, you can leverage your audience’s curiosity by launching live how-tos or explainers related to your industry. For example, if you’re marketing a restaurant, you might create a recipe or food-related how-to video. Or, if you’re marketing a fitness brand, you might stream a workout that audiences can try. Like Q&As, a how-to or explainer gives you the opportunity to show off your brand’s range of knowledge and expertise in your industry. Audiences who see this content might value your expertise and trust your brand because its team has shown a strong understanding of the industry and what audiences want to learn about. Here’s an example of a live how-to streamed by Planet Fitness. Rather than discussing what customers can get from a gym membership, a trainer from the gym shows audiences workouts that they can use to stay in shape — even outside the gym. Creating Your First Live Video If you’ve been inspired by the data or the videos above and are interested in coordinating your first live video, here are a few things you should consider before going live: Picking the Right Plattform: Platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, Twitch, TikTok, and LinkedIn offer a live video feature. Before you go live, research the audiences of each platform to determine which will best align with your own targets. Planning and Rehearsing: Once you go live, people will immediately be able to watch your content. To prevent any major blunders, you might want to rehearse prior to streaming or create an outline of what you plan to do while live. Including Interactive Elements: To engage with audiences further,

Which Types of Live Video Are People Actually Watching? [New Data] Read More »

24 LinkedIn Stats That Marketers Need to Know in 2020

Digital Marketing, Youthup Wire /

With nearly 700 million active users in 2020, LinkedIn’s expanded from a networking site for professionals to one of the top social media platforms. By now, most of us have used LinkedIn to market our brands, post industry thought leadership, or look for our dream jobs. As LinkedIn’s continued to evolve by adding new features, like live video, it’s steadily grown its user base. While the LinkedIn audience still skews towards career-minded professionals, the industries, interests, and demographics represented on the platform have become much broader since its launch. Aside from LinkedIn’s user growth, it’s also continued to expand on advertising opportunities, which has helped make it the second most used platform of B2B marketers. Today, it’s becoming quite clear that LinkedIn isn’t just for people in executive corporate roles. With millions of company pages and individual members, there’s a discussion, post, or professional network for almost anyone on this channel. But, despite LinkedIn’s growth and advertising opportunities, many marketers or brands still worry that the platform is still too formal or corporate for their audiences. The truth is — LinkedIn could very well be one of your most underrated marketing channels. If LinkedIn’s growth has caught your attention and you want to determine if it’s audiences and ad offerings are right for you, it’s important to do some research before devoting more time and resources to this network. To get you started on your LinkedIn research, here are 24 need-to-know stats about the platform’s audience, growth, and most common marketing tactics. LinkedIn Stats to Know in 2020 General LinkedIn Stats In Q2 of 2020, LinkedIn revenue increased 21 percent year-over-year (LinkedIn) In 2019, LinkedIn made more than 6.8 billion in revenue. (LinkedIn) LinkedIn has more than 690 million active users. (LinkedIn) In Q1 of 2020, LinkedIn sessions increased 22 percent year-over-year. (LinkedIn) Marketing Solutions is LinkedIn’s fastest-growing segment. It grew 44 percent year-over-year in Q1. (LinkedIn) LinkedIn received 30 billion sessions from its members in 2019. This was a year-over-year increase of 27 percent. (LinkedIn) In 2019, LinkedIn was voted the most trusted network. (Business Insider) Source In March of 2020, professionals watched more than four million hours of LinkedIn Learning content — a nearly 50% increase month-over-month. (LinkedIn) LinkedIn Live streams have increased by 158% since February 2020. (LinkedIn) More than four million LinkedIn members were hired through the platform in 2019. (LinkedIn) LinkedIn’s Talent Insights service, launched in 2019, got more than 1,300 customers in its first year. (LinkedIn) LinkedIn Demographics 57% of global LinkedIn users are male. (Statista) 25% of U.S. internet users say they use LinkedIn. (Pew Research Center) While 34% of those between 25 to 30 and 33% of those aged 30 to 49 say they use LinkedIn. (Pew Research Center) 45% of internet users who make more than $75,000 annually use LinkedIn while only 25% of those in the $50,000 to $74,999 range use the platform. (Pew Research Center) 50% of internet users with a college degree or higher use LinkedIn. (Pew Research Center) Four out of five LinkedIn members drive business decisions at their companies. (LinkedIn) Marketing Tactics and Lead Generation LinkedIn is the second most popular platform of B2B marketers, followed by Facebook. (Social Media Examiner) As of January 2020, 663.3 million users have been reached by LinkedIn Ads. (We Are Social) Data shows that the most engaging LinkedIn posts are published on Wednesdays between 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and noon, Thursday at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., and Friday at 9 a.m. (Sprout Social) LinkedIn’s lead conversion rates are 3X higher than other major ad platforms, including Google Ads. (LinkedIn) Roughly 15% of marketers are creating content for LinkedIn. (HubSpot) Only 10% of marketers say they’re investing in LinkedIn. (HubSpot) In a study of over 5,000 businesses, HubSpot found that traffic from LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.74%, almost three times or 277% higher than both Twitter (.69%) and Facebook (.77%). (HubSpot) Mastering LinkedIn Marketing Because LinkedIn is a slightly different audience from other major platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Snapchat, you’ll want to understand the audience before investing time or resources into a campaign or advertisement. Be sure to keep the stats above, as well as emerging research about the platform and its audiences, in mind as you prepare your next social media strategy. If you’re looking for more inspiration or hard research to help you guide your LinkedIn strategy, check out this great post which highlights the most engaging topics and posting strategies on the platform. If you’re more interested in boosting your personal profile and network on LinkedIn, here’s a guide on how to become a LinkedIn thought leader.

24 LinkedIn Stats That Marketers Need to Know in 2020 Read More »

16 Digital Marketing Ebooks You Can Download Today

Digital Marketing, Youthup Wire /

About 60% of marketers believe that content marketing is important to their overall marketing strategies. When you think about your marketing strategies, what are the tools you’re using to deepen your understanding of the current landscape of digital marketing? As an ever-changing industry, it’s important for marketers to commit to learning as much as possible about digital marketing. But … who has the time? Enter: the ebook. If you want to expand your knowledge of digital marketing from reputable thought leaders, but have limited resources, or don’t even know where to start, this post is for you. Below, I’ll list some awesome ebooks on the ins and outs of digital marketing, from SEO, to content building, to beginner’s guides. Let’s jump in! 1. Digital Marketing for Small Business by HubSpot For this ebook, HubSpot teamed up with the experts at MOO to build a guide aimed at small businesses. It provides everything startups need to know about inbound marketing and gives a great scope of how to test, learn, and grow in an online marketing landscape. This ebook takes readers through accessible ways to maximize resources and get the greatest benefit from marketing. Need help with channels like Facebook, Google, and Twitter? “Digital Marketing for Small Businesses” has you covered. If you’re looking for a one-stop shop for how to start a functional digital marketing strategy from the ground up, this ebook is for you. It even provides templates and concrete examples that will help you organize your strategy. 2. Paid and Earned: The Two Sides of Influencer Marketing by Jay Baer Do you want to have a robust understanding of how influencer marketing can boost your ROI? This ebook shows you how influencer marketing is a great method for building brand awareness and boosting conversion, while offering a guide on how to choose between paid influencers or earned influencers. Author Jay Baer explores how influencer marketing can be a necessity for brands as well as the inverse relationship between the two. Baer discusses how different kinds of influencers have their own impacts on the industry and how to navigate working with influencers to maximize ROI. 3. The $10 Digital Media Startup Ebook by My Frugal Business If you’re building your business from the ground up and need a little help, this guide is aimed at guiding you through how to begin that process. This ebook is for those starting at level zero with building an online digital media strategy. It’ll walk you through fleshing out a social media strategy, SEO, influencer marketing, and how to become a successful digital entrepreneur. If you’re in the space where you have to multitask in order to get your business up and running, consider giving this ebook a look. 4. 25 Actionable Social Media Strategies You Can Implement Today by Buffer and Kevan Lee For this ebook, the team at Buffer collaborated with marketer Kevan Lee on social media strategies that are easy to implement. If you think a social media strategy is just about posting consistently, think again. This guide debunks that theory and explains how strategies also need to be delightful, effective, and targeted. You’ll receive advice that’s actionable and useful as you plan out or re-work your current strategy. For instance, you’ll learn how to leave a lasting impression on followers through content and when to post to leave the most impact. 5. Content Marketing: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to What Works by Search Engine Journal The team at Search Engine Journal put together a comprehensive ebook that focuses on how to build a content marketing strategy for those just getting started. Content marketing encompasses lead acquisition and the growth of your business — but only if it’s done effectively. This ebook is for anyone who wants a content marketing strategy that’s successful. It provides readers with an understanding of the value of content marketing and how to maximize your resources so you get the most bang for your buck. 6. How to Build a World-Class Internet Lead Generation Program by Peter Geisheker If you want to know how to attract more target customers to your online business this ebook should be useful. Author Peter Geisheker gives a crash course in improving lead generation, correctly. You’ll receive actionable tips about attracting customers, social media marketing, and how to retarget content to generate leads. Additionally, this ebook talks about how sales funnels work online and how having an online advertising plan in place helps you drive website traffic. 7. Data-Driven Content Marketing by Uberflip Content marketing works when it’s built from helpful, actionable data. With this ebook, you’ll become an expert at understanding the power of data analytics in building a content marketing strategy. Of course, data isn’t the only necessity when planning out content marketing. This ebook also dives into the creation process, distribution, and strategizing of a content plan that works for your company. This ebook will help you determine if your current content strategy is the best that it can be and provides valuable tips for marketers about how to improve what’s not working. 8. How to Run a Marketing Campaign with G Suite by HubSpot In this ebook, you’ll learn the best practices for digital marketing using Google’s tools. With so much to manage in the marketing landscape, you’ll learn quick, easy ways to become a rockstar at managing Google Suite, which streamlines marketing activities on a digital landscape. You’ll become comfortable with Google’s offerings of productivity and collaboration software to help your marketing efforts. This guide presents concrete examples of how HubSpot’s marketing team uses Google Suite to create, manage, and analyze campaigns giving you actionable takeaways as you become familiar with the platform. 9. Complete Guide to Crushing Your Influencer Marketing: Influencer Marketing Blueprint by Shane Barker Unsure about the true benefits of leveraging influencer marketing? Let this guide by Shane Barker lessen your uncertainty. It puts a digital marketing lens on the ins and outs of using influencer marketing to your advantage. This

16 Digital Marketing Ebooks You Can Download Today Read More »

How to Create an Editorial Calendar [Examples + Templates]

Digital Marketing, Youthup Wire /

If you’re anything like me, you’re consistently working out of at least 20 browser tabs, four journals, a yellow legal pad or two, and a myriad of Post-it notes stuck around your computer monitor. To the average overseer, it’s nothing short of chaos. To the blogger, it’s evidence of a (desperate) need for an editorial calendar. My muddled system transforms dramatically when I work with a team. I realize the need for organization and structure, and this could not be more necessary than with managing a blog. Without a mutually agreed-upon system for planning, writing, and scheduling content every week, you can find yourself in a pile of missed deadlines, unedited blog posts, and a fair amount of team tension. There’s no such thing as a perfect editorial calendar — it all depends on the needs of your team. Nonetheless, there are a number of questions you should ask yourself to determine what your editorial calendar should look like. These include: How frequently are you publishing content? Do you have stuff going live every day? Once a week? Perhaps multiple times a day? Finding out how often you publish can tell you how best to visualize your editorial calendar on a regular basis. Do you create more than one type of content? If you upload as many videos to YouTube as you publish articles to your company blog, your editorial calendar will need to distinguish between the two. How many people will use this editorial calendar? The best editorial calendars allow multiple people to brainstorm, collaborate, and provide feedback on assignments in real time — directly on the calendar. What are the various stages content goes through before it’s published? How complex is your content pipeline? Is there a substantial review or approval process that each piece of content goes through? Make sure your calendar can distinguish between two similar assignments that are in different stages of creation. What format will you use to organize this calendar? You’ll want to choose the system that best aligns with your goals and your team’s workflows. The next section discusses the most common formats. Choosing a Format for Organizing Your Content Calendar There’s no such thing as a perfect editorial calendar, but some formats will be better than others at helping you solve for your team’s goals. Once you choose a format, you’ll also want to decide on how you will implement it — picking a tool or platform that offers the features or interface your company needs most.  Here are some of the different ways to format your editorial calendar:  1. Traditional Calendar or Calendar App Whether you’re tracking deadlines on a big paper calendar on your desk or through an app like Google Calendar, this is one of the most straight-forward ways to know what’s going out and when. The disadvantage, though, is that there’s more to project and content management than publishing dates, and a calendar may not always be effective enough on its own.  2. Spreadsheet Spreadsheets have always been a favorite for content management. There’s something so satisfying in seeing all your necessary data points aggregated in one place and organized neatly into rows and columns. With Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets, spreadsheets are easily accessible and don’t have a high learning curve. One advantage of using spreadsheets is that they can be easily paired with calendar apps and content management tools. By importing a .csv file, you can load the information into multiple places as needed for the tasks at hand (see the Google Sheets and Hootsuite Planner combination in the next section for inspiration).  3. Kanban Board or Other Project Management Tool Kanban is a visual system for project management that involves moving cards through different stages of a project. It’s popular in editorial management because it can be easily used to represent an editorial workflow no matter what your quality assurance process is or how many hands touch a piece before it’s published.  This means that a Kanban board can easily accommodate your content calendar if you require more planning and management to push things live. Popular options for this type of system include Trello, Airtable, and Meistertask. 4. Content Calendar (and Management) Apps Taking the calendar concept a little further, there are apps and software platforms that have been designed specifically for content management. They include both the calendar and the project management aspects that are required to get the job done along with other helpful features for high-volume content marketing teams. Examples of these platforms include CoSchedule, Contently, and Loomly. Editorial Calendar Examples To help you implement an editorial calendar, we’ve also included two real examples from a few of the most successful content teams out there. Check them out below and find out what makes their calendar so useful. 1. Buffer’s Editorial Calendar Platform: Trello This is the actual editorial calendar of Buffer, a social media content scheduling platform. Naturally, the company’s own content is supported by an editorial calendar that describes an assignment’s author, title, publish date, and where it is in the company’s editorial workflow (content can be in the “Ideas” stage, in the “Pipeline,” “In Progress,” or “Editing”). Each rectangular tile shown above represents an individual piece of content — whether it’s a blog post, video, or even a podcast episode. As you might be able to tell, Buffer’s editorial calendar is built on Trello, a common project management tool. And although you can use Trello more than one way, Buffer uses most of its available features so everyone has the information they need within a few clicks — regardless of what they do for the company and how the calendar affects their work. “An editorial calendar should be a resource for your whole team, not just content creators,” says Ash Read, Buffer’s editorial director. “It should be something anyone can easily access to see what’s coming up and also suggest content ideas. Sometimes the best content suggestions will come from people outside of your marketing team.” In the next screenshot, above, you can

How to Create an Editorial Calendar [Examples + Templates] Read More »